Earlier this week, when we reported on how Jagex elected to wind back Pride events in RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, we noted how initial reactions were one of disappointment and frustration. Well, it would appear that temperature has raised over the past few days into the sort of fury, snark, and unapologetic representation that perfectly marks why Pride exists – to push back against erasure and silence.

While many people denounce Jagex’s explanation on social media as cowardly, including one of the MMORPG’s former devs, the vast majority of pushback has come in the form of multiple angry posts from fans on Reddit. These include fake patch notes that seek to “straighten” or “de-gay” the game by doing things like removing an overly colorful set of boots, make curved items straight, or remove “more ‘undesirable’ parts of reality” such as “ethnically problematic” NPCs, characters without “documented Gielinorian citizenship,” and women. Still others are hosting their own in-game Pride events, some of which have reportedly been so populated that OSRS can’t render in every attendee.

Underlying it all is the point that a neutral stance in this matter isn’t as neutral as Jagex CEO Jon Bellamy tries to argue. “Twitter is absolutely filled with posts praising Jagex for finally ‘getting rid of the woke mob,'” writes one fan. “I’m sure Jagex would say ‘that wasn’t our intention, we just don’t want to endorse either side,’ but in so doing, they have platformed the worst of their player base.”